NOTE 13 — FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENT

ASC 820 (formerly FAS 157, Fair Value Measurements) defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (an exit price). The standard outlines a valuation framework and creates a fair value hierarchy in order to increase the consistency and comparability of fair value measurements and the related disclosures. ASC 820 details the disclosures that are required for items measured at fair value.

We have financial instruments such as certain Treasury securities, debt and long-term receivables (Revenue Forgone) that we must measure for disclosure purposes on a recurring basis under ASC 820. We also apply the provisions of ASC 820 to various non-recurring measurements of our financial and non-financial assets and liabilities such as the impairment of fixed assets. We measure our assets and liabilities using inputs from the following three levels of the fair value hierarchy:

The following sections describe the valuation methodologies we use to measure different instruments at fair value. There has been no impact to the statements of operations or the statements of cash flows related to the adoption of ASC 820.

We believe that the fair values of our current assets and current liabilities approximate their reported carrying amounts. The carrying values and the fair values of non-current financial assets and liabilities that qualify as financial instruments are shown in the following table.

We estimate revenue forgone using the income method and discount rates used for similar assets such as long-term treasuries, a level 2 input.

No active market exists for FFB debt. Therefore, we estimate the fair value of our long-term debt, using prices given to us by FFB, a level 3 input.

 

Fair Value of Long-Term Financial Assets (dollars in millions)

 

September 30, 2009

September 30, 2008

 

Carrying Amount

Fair Value

Carrying Amount

Fair Value

Revenue Forgone

$344

$462

$349

$458

Total Long-Term Financial Assets

$344

$462

$349

$458

Debt

$6,525

$6,519

$

$

Total Long-Term Financial Liabilities

$6,525

$6,519

$

$

The reconciliation of level 3 inputs is shown below:

 

Reconciliation of Fair Value of Level 3 Instruments (dollars in millions)

Debt

 

Balance at September 30, 2008

$

Unrecognized gain

(6)

Additions

6,525

Balance at September 30, 2009

$6,519

Non-financial Items Measured at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis — Non-financial assets such as property, plant and equipment are measured at fair value when there is an indicator of impairment and recorded at fair value only when impairment is recognized. We performed impairment analyses in each quarter of 2009. In Quarter IV 2009, we identified and recorded an impairment of $71 million of property, plant and equipment.